The Weekly Wrap-Up features articles from the last 7 days of Photofocus. This time, Michèle Grenier continues her mirrorless quest with “The Final Round”, Julie Powell explores lighting for still lifes, Erin Holmstead chronicles her journey in becoming an artist, Marie Tartar takes us to the birthing waters of Humpback whales and Mike Hagen compares the Decade mini tripod base to the venerable Platypod. All in all, it was a great week of information and inspiration here on Photofocus!
Will I switch from DSLR to Mirrorless? The final round - I’ve now been playing around with the Sony a9 and the Olympus OM-D E-M1X for a few weeks and gotten to know them quite a bit better. I shot sports photographs in all kinds of lighting conditions (the good, the bad and the really crappy ones). This article sums up my experience with both cameras and my opinion on their performance. All men are not created equal. Neither are cameras. Each and every individual has something unique to bring to the table. There’s no “one-size-fits-all” magic recipe. I am not looking for THE ultimate perfect camera: I am looking for MY perfect camera. Well spent money is the money I have, spent on buying gear for MY needs. That’s how I like to see my quest in finding the perfect mate. Mr. X (the Olympus OM-D E-M1X) and Mr. A (the Sony a9) are no exception to that rule. Each of them offers different features that will fulfill different needs. Here are some of the most interesting ones — based on my sports photography needs, wants and desires. Both are offering a lot more features than the ones I am sharing here. If you are looking for more extensive details, here’s the link to the complete EM1-X and a9 feature pages. Mr. X’s sexiest features Advanced weather sealing I could bring it in the shower with me … which would actually be a desirable thing (I’m not joking — people already did). 60 frames per second sequential shooting It might be a little overkill but it’s good to know I could use it in case I really need to. 7.5 stops of compensation I know he’ll stay poised when I’ll be shooting at a slow shutter speed (or using a telephoto, or doing videos). “Pro Capture” mode If I miss the timing of my perfect shot, I know he’ll have my back by recording 35 frames on the first release, before the actual picture is being taken. Very light and compact lenses That could be a huge shoulder/back/arm saver for my eight to 12-hour long event photoshoots. Mr. A’s sexiest features Very high ISO performance As you’ll see below, I tested his ISO performance pretty high and he always worked up to my expectations. He also did wonders times and times again in crappy lights situations at very fast shutter speed. WONDERS. Real-time autofocus tracking I’ll get straight to it: He has THE. BEST. DAMN. AUTOFOCUS on the planet. I captured thousands of photos, I shot videos and with every single one of them I’ve been flabbergasted. It sticks with the subject and never lets it go. It’s fast, it’s accurate and it’s a dream to work with. (This is me gushing!) Full-frame stacked CMOS sensor Yes, I’ll say it again: For me, size does matter. That feeling of producing tremendous quality images with delightful, great bokeh created from a shallow depth of field … it can’t be simulated with a smaller sensor. Longer battery life I not only want a bigger sensor. I also want batteries that stay up for as long as possible. When I’m out shooting a 12-hour long sports competitions, my batteries have to be able to keep up with me. There is nothing worse than being interrupted every hour in the heat of the action. Amazing color rendering Yes, I choose to put this as one of Mr. A’s sexiest features instead of some other high-end technology stuff for this point. To me, having great looking images with close-to-perfect skin tones straight out of the camera is super sexy because it saves me a lot of time in post-production (you can read more about it here). Just look at them OK, enough talking! In order to see Mr. A and Mr. X in action, here are below a few visual comparisons of images taken in the same conditions with similar settings and lenses. As a reminder: A 25mm focal lens on a micro four-third camera sensor is an equivalent field of view of 50mm on a full-frame camera. On the next three examples, we can see the white balance and depth of field difference between the two of them. On this next example, we can see the difference between the ISO performance. The E-M1X native ISO range is 200-6400 (and can be expanded to 64-25,600). The a9 native ISO range is 100-25,600 (and can be expanded to 50-204,800). So there’s no surprise by the result we can see in this example. I basically challenged Mr. X to the maximum of his ISO abilities while we were just starting to spice things up for Mr. A. The reason for such difference is the sensor size. Logically, the bigger the sensor, the more light it catches. A full-frame sensor is four times the size of a micro four-thirds, hence the noticeable difference in high ISO performance. Why I am considering more than ever switching to mirrorless Now that I’ve been playing around those two gentle characters for quite some time, I don’t want to let go of them. I am … kind of hooked … I got caught up in the dating game. Their in-body stabilization, their 4K video, the focus peaking for when I go to focus manually, the face and eye detection focus, the UHS-II SD support for faster memory cards, the silent mode, the “what you see is what you get feeling” in the electronic viewfinder … all of these wonderful, magical things that Mr. A and Mr. X give me that my current Nikon D750 simply can’t do. Now tell me you wouldn’t be tempted too. I’ve waited long enough! My heart has been taken. I finally chose my next dream partner and I can’t wait for us to be reunited forever (or at least as I said in my first article “until death do us part.” Here’s hoping that I don’t drop my new love.) In my concluding article, there will be no more secrets. Stay with me and I’ll tell
The Traveling Photographer: Humpback whale tales — topside lessons, part one - I recently spent a week swimming and snorkeling with humpback whales. While we were scanning the horizon from our skiff, looking for telltale blows, we had many opportunities to witness and photograph their topside behaviors. It was a treat to see and a challenge to photograph. I learned many lessons, which may be useful to others shooting in similarly unpredictable situations. As with all wildlife shooting, it’s necessary to be in a place where there is a reasonable likelihood of encountering animals. One doesn’t expect to see marine mammals strolling down Fifth Avenue in New York! So, rule number one is … Go where the animals are I was in Silver Bank, a relatively shallow underwater plateau measuring roughly 10-by-20 miles, with depths to 100 feet, about halfway between the Dominican Republic and the Turks and Caicos. This area is surrounded by much deeper waters and is where humpback mothers-to-be migrate from colder Northern Atlantic waters to give birth and nurse their calves to a size and strength capable of making the lo-o-o-ong yearly migration north back to their New England feeding grounds. Male humpback whales come there too, looking to mate with the females. In the months of January to March, there is a relatively high concentration of these leviathans in a circumscribed area. In the case of Silver Bank, it is a protected marine mammal reserve, the Sanctuario de Mamíferos Marinos de la Republica Dominicana. There are only three permit holders who run trips during the season, limiting the number of visitors to the area. This trip was with Gene Flipse of Conscious Breath Adventures, in his 17th year working in the area. This brings me to rule number two. Go with an expert There is no substitute for local knowledge. In the case of Silver Bank, being in a sanctuary, there is no choice. But when there is, consider carefully the pros and cons of doing it yourself vs. availing yourself of the expertise of a local. Packing for this trip, I armed myself with the longest lens I own paired with my fastest camera. In my case, this was the Fujifilm X-T3, with the XF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR lens. The Fujifilm X-T3 will shoot 11 frames per second on continuous with a mechanical shutter. The 100-400mm lens proved to be a good choice. I also brought two Fujifilm teleconverters — the XF 1.4x TC WR and the XF 2x TC WR — but never used them. Where the whales would pop up was very unpredictable. We saw many breeches on the far horizon, where no amount of magnification would be sufficient. Still other behaviors were so close, 100 mm of focal length was too long. What I learned Pick one workhorse setup, stick with it and shoot when the conditions suit the focal length you have. With whales, where and when they appear is very unpredictable and happens very quickly. There simply isn’t time to riffle through a gear bag switching lenses. As Gene said early on, your camera may be well-protected back on the mothership in your room, but it won’t do you much good unless you have it with you (I’m paraphrasing). I found a balance had to be struck between having the camera protected yet readily available. Fortunately, on Gene’s tenders, Pec and Fluke, there is a well-designed dry area up front which shielded the gear when splashes and spray were happening. Some people had their cameras in drybags. I wrapped mine up in a wrapping cloth which I usually use for transport and a little extra padding. Other days I just wrapped it up in a quick-drying microfiber towel. My lens happens to have an especially deep lens hood, which does a great job protecting the front element from splashes. When there was a lot of wave action, I just turned the camera lens down and wrapped it up in the towel or held it under the protected area. I always use a cross-body strap, as boats can jolt one off balance in a hurry. Take some test shots for overall exposure before the action starts happening. When it starts, there won’t be time to check results and make adjustments. Use a fast shutter speed. Most of my topside behavior shots were taken with a shutter speed of 1/2000s. Shutter priority mode is a good bet in this situation. Shoot on continuous high at the fastest frame rate your camera can achieve. Prepare to delete a lot of failures. With whales and surface behaviors, if you miss the breech, pec slap or spy-hopping, don’t despair. Many whale behaviors are repetitive. Once you have an idea of their rough distance from you, you can anticipate where they will next appear. Take some video. Some behaviors, especially pectoral fin slapping, are very dynamic and are better communicated with video. Compare still images of pec fin slaps, below, with a video clip: Video better captures the dynamism of this behavior: Others, like breeches, happen so fast, they are over almost as soon as they happen. A still image communicates the strength of the movement of the whale and the water in a way that is unforgettable. While seeing the whales on the surface was wonderful, seeing their interactions underwater is magical. I learned other lessons shooting the whales underwater, a topic for a future post. In the meantime, here’s a preview: Postscript: Kirby Flanagan (Flanagan Fotos and Photographing the West podcast series) and I discuss whale photography in a podcast.
No one ever told me I could become an artist - I have a confession: School was incredibly hard for me and I actually hated it most of the time. There were, however, a few classes that I really liked and excelled at, like Anatomy, Art and History. Looking back on it now I realize a lot had to do with the fact that my Anatomy teacher, Mr. Fenton, was the best human ever! History had images, and Art was a way for me to express myself and I only took art once in high school. Despite that, I thought my Art teacher was a jerk. I remember I had done this really cool chalk picture of fruit, that I loved and felt really proud of. It was done in mostly black and white and he decided to add blue to it! Literally, as I was telling him how proud I was and how much I loved what I had done, he reached over, grabbed the chalk and scribbled blue in the shadows. I walked out of class that day and never went back. History was fascinating to me due to the images inside of the textbooks. There was this incredible power within them that the text just simply couldn’t convey. The stories came alive for me when I saw an image or watched a documentary. I could actually visualize the event and noticed all the little details that were missed in the text. I wouldn’t have been able to do that if someone wasn’t there at that time taking the photo. If someone hadn’t learned how to work a camera. If someone had not become an artist. History would have been just a story without any proof in my eyes. Pushing through I pushed through it though, graduated high school and went into the medical field. I contribute a lot of that to Mr. Fenton, in fact. He continued to push me to do great things and when he realized that I had memorized the human anatomy he pushed me even harder to go into the medical field. I enjoyed it, but I think I knew I was destined to be an artist. Even though a photographer or an artist never came to career day and no one ever told me that was even an option, I knew it. All anyone ever said was you can be whatever you want but doctors, nurses, lawyers and police officers are pretty much the coolest most important things, so here, learn from them. Don’t get me wrong — I think all of those and hundreds of more career paths are hugely important and very much needed — but so are artists. Share the artist experience Maybe that’s why I love going around to the local schools on career week and speaking to the younger generation about the importance of becoming an artist. Making sure that they understand that you can make a living while doing it! Telling them about the time my Art teacher drew on my project and turned it into his own and letting them know that your art is just that. It’s yours! It doesn’t have to fit this insane model of what others think is art or how it should look. Take for instance this image, “Unknown,” by Cy Twombly, done in the 1970s. It sold for a whopping $69.6 million dollars! Andreas Gursky is a landscape photographer. He sold a piece of his work below for $4.3 million dollars!!! THAT IS CRAZY! For me, now seven years later, after officially “retiring” from the medical field and just doing photography. I realize that it is hugely important that we let kids know that being an artist is totally acceptable in whatever capacity that means for them. Whether they are a photographer, videographer, graphic designer, painter, etc. that it doesn’t have to just be a hobby. That it can also be a career path and a pretty dang cool one at that. So maybe next time your kid decides to paint on your wall or ask to go to art camp or maybe when the school sends home the form asking for suggestions for career week, suggest an artist!
How to harness your light for still life photography - With the light changing and Daylight savings ending (or just starting depending on where you live), there has never been a better time to ‘See your light’. Each Season has a different sort of light, have you taken much notice of it before. Summer is more on the yellow spectrum and much brighter, Winter is dull and has more blue in it. It will actually change during the course of a day too. I find Autumn and Spring have the most wonderful light. So if you struggle to capture great, well-lit still-life images and trust me you’re not alone. It is actually one of the biggest hurdles most photographers face, but it doesn’t have to be. In five easy steps, you can learn how to harness your light for still life photography. 1. See the light Learn to see your light, really study it. Choose a space where you can place a table by a window and set up a small scene, perhaps a bowl of fruit or a vase of flowers. Then, throughout the day, at one-hour intervals, take a photo of the same setup. Don’t move anything. Put your camera on a tripod for this. Start by setting your camera on ISO 100 and use the Aperture Priority mode and a f/stop of f/5.6 – f/8. At the end of the day, you will have quite a few images all the same, where light is the only thing that changes. Study the light in each photo. See the shadows and the color of the light. Observe how it changes, especially if your window faces east or west. North and South light will work great too. Different seasons will give slightly different light as well, so it is worth repeating this study at different times of the year, or even in different locations. For the most comprehensive result, do this over 12 hour period. 2. Choose the mood Once you have studied your light and discovered which one you like best, you can use that light to set the mood for your images. Whether that light is cherry and bright, dark and moody, ethereal or dramatic is up to you. Generally, still life is lit from the side or from behind your subject. Occasionally they are lit from the top with a slight angle for shots made directly above the scene. These are known as lay-flat shots. 3. Natural light or artificial More often than not most still life photographers use natural light and why not, it’s free. Early morning light and later afternoon/evening light can be the softest and often desirable for photos. In this regard, it’s no different from landscapes. You can set up a table in front of a window and use it as a side or backlight, you can also use a table off to the side of a window for less directional light. Natural light is not the only light source available. You can still use flash, strobe or continuous lights as well. But you do need to keep in mind your white balance. You can adjust for Flash, Fluorescent or LED on your camera. Generally speaking, you should still only use one light source — we only have one sun and mixed shadows from multiple lights can be distracting in photos, but not always. Using artificial light can give you the freedom to capture your images at any time of day or night and in any condition. You can try all of the above and set up a simple scene and then move your lights around your scene to get a feel for which direction you find more aesthetically pleasing. 4. Harness your light The next thing to consider is harnessing your light, you may have window light (or artificial light) but more often than not it is harsh and can cause strong shadows, this is not always desirable. Using something to soften the light is required. A scrim or a diffuser in front of your light source can soften the light. This could be a pro-quality diffuser or simply baking paper taped to a window. You can even use a thin sheer fabric or curtain taped to a window or in the case of artificial light, a softbox, umbrella or sheer curtain taped to a hula hoop. It really doesn’t matter as long as it softens the light. 5. Block and reflect There is one more step to really taking your photography to the next level in regards to lighting it well … blocking and reflecting the light. After using a diffuser to make lovely soft light, it can also create less light. By using a reflector to bounce light back into the shadows, you’ll bring out more detail. It really isn’t difficult — white cardboard or foam core can work as a brilliant reflector. Angle it toward your light and then tilt it until it bounces some of that light back onto your subject … it does wonders for your still life. If you hold them up with little clamps you can do this hands-free. Alternatively, you can use something matte black (like foam core or cardboard) to block unwanted light from hitting parts of your scene (like the background) that you may not want. Use your light blockers to drastically cut down the amount of light hitting your scene, and tilt and angle them to create a variety of light slithers to land exactly where you want it to. This can create some truly dramatic images. This all applies to natural and artificial light. Try it out for yourself and spend a weekend playing with light and really learn the basics, to see and harness the light. It can do wonders for all types of photography, from portraits, landscapes, macro and more. Want to learn more about Capturing beautiful Lighting? Why not check out my self-paced online class — Capturing Light
